A good education empowers people to think critically, pursue opportunities and contribute meaningfully to society.
It can transform lives by opening doors to new possibilities, giving people the tools to shape their own futures.
It is therefore deeply concerning that educational standards in Wales are declining.
The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results show that Wales's performance has fallen to its lowest level ever in maths, reading and science, the lowest of all UK nations for the fifth consecutive time - with warnings that Romania is set to outperform us in just 15 years!
Our GCSE pass rate in top grades remains significantly lower than England's, there are dwindling apprenticeship starts, a discredited reading method being pushed in our schools, and this year Wales was the only nation where the proportion of top A-level grades fell.
Meanwhile, the issue of discipline in Welsh schools has reached a critical point, with concerning statistics and incidents highlighting the urgent need for action. Data published earlier this year revealed that fixed-term exclusions among secondary school pupils have tripled over a seven-year period, underscoring the escalating challenges within the education system.
Additionally, reports of physical assaults on teachers and knife-related incidents are at their highest recorded levels. Schools should be a safe space for students and staff, but according to research by the teacher’s Union NASUWT, 35 per cent of teachers had experienced physical abuse or violence from pupils in the previous year, with 92 per cent experiencing verbal abuse.
It is little wonder then that there is a teacher recruitment and retention crisis here in Wales.
Our Welsh education system is broken, and it’s children and young people across Wales who are paying the price.
In a bid to address all these issues, earlier this month I appointed leading headteacher Alun Ebenezer to advise the Welsh Conservatives on education in advance of the 2026 Senedd elections.
Mr Ebenezer, who was a Founding Headmaster of Fulham Boys School, has been the headteacher of Caldicot School in South Wales since June 2024, and overseen a dramatic improvement in pupil behaviour and attainment. A former free school meals pupil who was brought up in Blaenau Gwent, Mr Ebenezer is a champion of old-school values, a strict disciplinarian, and critic of the mollycoddling of children.
He has stated that “Every child deserves a decent education and that starts with restoring discipline in our classrooms, improving academic rigour, and providing the support that teachers need”.
The need for this has clearly been demonstrated here in North Wales with members of NEU Cymru at Flint High School continuing their strike action over workplace bullying and failures to tackle pupil behaviour.
No teacher should feel unsafe or undermined in their workplace, and no child’s education should suffer because of poor behaviour that goes unchallenged.
In the Senedd last week, the Welsh Conservatives brought forward a Senedd motion outlining our plan to fix Wales’s education system, by improving educational outcomes and improving academic rigour.
This included restoring school discipline, empowering our teachers, and ensuring we have a purpose-driven curriculum. Sadly, our motion was defeated by Labour and Plaid Cymru.
However, we will not give up and will keep on fighting for our young people and teachers.
Currently, one in five children are leaving school in Wales functionally illiterate, we cannot let this continue.
Every child deserves the best start in life and the chance to reach their full potential.
If we want Wales and its people to prosper, providing our young people with a first-rate education is vital.
